Paraffin wax compositions



Patented Apr. 21, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PARAFFIN WAX COMPOSITIONS No Drawing. Application June 7, 1950, Serial No. 166,762

6 Claims.

This invention relates to improved parafiin wax compositions, and more particularly to improved paraflin wax compositions stabilized against oxidative and analogous forms of deterioration resulting irom subjecting paraflin wax to elevated temperature, air, and the like.

The methods of separating paraflin wax from crude petroleum products, such as by distillation, chilling with filtering or centrifuging, sweating, and solvent extraction, are well known. Various method of parafiin wax purification, such as treatment with sulfuric acid and fullers earth, are also well known. Although this purification helps to produce more stable parafiin waxes initially free from odor, taste, and color, it is not effective enough to prevent subsequent oxidative deterioration which has been troublesome to industrial users of paraffin wax.

One of the most widely practiced applications of paraffin wax is in the coating industry wherein hot wax baths are employed for waterproofing, treating, impregnating or sizing paper and similar products, and wherein wax is employed to provide a protective coating for materials of all kinds. More specifically, the use of hot liquefied wax is widely practiced in the manufacture of such articles as waxed papers, especially waxed bread wrappers, waxed milk cartons and other beverage containers, cartons, bottle caps, shot shell tubes, matches, wax impregnated fabrics, paper-metal foil electrical condensers, junction and terminal boxes, transformers, wax impregnated insulation, coils and windings, candles, as well as a host of other products too numerous to mention,

In each instance where a hot bath of liquefied paraffin wax is employed, problems of wax decom-- position must be dealt with. This decomposition, which is generally considered to be the result of an oxidative mechanism, is evidenced by the appearance of undesirable odors, discoloration of the wax, and the formation of organic acids, peroxides, and possibly anhydrides and lactones in the wax. Thus, suppliers of refined parafiin wax generally recommend that the temperature of a wax melt be kept below 160 F. (71 C.) be cause. beginning at about this temperature, decomposition starts, accompanied by the development of an acroleinic or burnt odor, a similar taste and a darkening of the color. Paraffin waxes ranging in melting point from 59 F. (15 C.) to 176 F. (80 C.) having from fifteen to thirty-five straight chain carbon atoms are readily oxidized in contact with air above 160 F. By Way of example, after 50 hours at 200 F. a paraffin wax having a melting point of 122 F, begins to show traces of peroxides, and after hours at 212 F. a titratable amount of fatty acid has developed.

Besides the formation of objectionable odors and an increase in color and acidity, oxidation brings about a lowering of melting point and tensile strength, and an overall deterioration of valuable properties, such as hardness and the like, of the wax. Moreover, when decomposition occurs, much wax is lost through volatilization and the periodic purification steps necessitated by this decomposition. Consequently, it is of considerable importance to improve the heat stability of paraffin wax.

Wax compositions of improved heat stability, moreover, offer many processing advantages. Wax coating and impregnating baths may be operated safely at higher temperatures to effect improved penetration, while allowing better control over the amount of wax pick-up by the paper or other stock being treated. In addition, entirely new applications, previously eliminated from consideration because of temperature limitations, become practicable for waxes having improved heat stability. Furthermore, tank car may be unloaded more rapidly because higher temperatures resulting in lower viscosities give better transfer of heat and flow, making possible savings in labor and steam costs.

A further problem encountered by users of paraffin wax is that of providing a finished product, such as waxed paper and beverage containers, which will not deteriorate or discolor upon exposure to air. The salability of food products in wrappings and containers impregnated with wax is adversely affected by discoloration or yellowing of the wax due to oxidation. This diificulty becomes more acute with the recent emphasis placed on packagin and package design,

It has beenproposed to improve the stability of parafiin Waxes against oxidative deterioration by incorporating therewith one or more materials called anti-oxidants because such materials are believed to inhibit the formation of undesirable products of oxidation. However, the inhibition of paraffin wax against oxidation presents special difficulties not encountered when choosing an anti-oxidant for other purposes. First, the antioxidant material must be capable of withstanding the temperatures employed in wax melts with out loss in anti-oxidant powers. This problem, and oxidation conditions in general, are accentuated in the blending of parafiin wax with higher melting point materials such as polyethylene, as set forth in application Ser. No. 601,556,. filed June 25, 1945, by Bowman, Ridenour, and Hellenback and assigned to the same assignee as the present application. The higher temperatures and agitation employed tend to increase oxidation. Accordingly, anti-oxidant which are suitable in mild temperature applications may not be suitable in paraffin wax. In addition, an antioxidant must not adversely affect the physical properties of the wax.

Where paraffin wax is employed in the manufacture of wrappings, containers, and coatings for foods, an anti-oxidant must not impart color, odor, or taste to the wax, either in the wax melt or when in contact with the food. The standards for paraffin wax are generally much higher than for most other products including many edible products such as edible fats and oils. This is particularly true with regard to color and odor. Lard oil, for example, has a characteristic odor which although not objectionable from a standpoint of human consumption would be highly objectionable if found in paramn wax compositions. Any color imparted to parafiin wax is highly objectionable from a marketing standpoint and, therefore, a very small degree of oxidation which might give only a slight off-white cast to the wax is undesirable, whereas in petroleum oils in general and in many food products a slight discoloration goes unnoticed. Paraffin wax is essentially odorless and, therefore, any odor due to impurity is very easily detected. For example, oxidation of paraffin wax to such a degree that it has a peroxide number of 0.01 is usually enough to confer a definitely detectable oxidized odor. Such a small amount of oxidation with its attendant odor may go unnoticed in many other substances which have some slight characteristic odor of their own, the characteristic odor tending to mask the oxidized odor. Since parafiin wax is a crystalline material, small amounts of impurities can effect relatively large changes in physical proporties such as melting point and tensile strength. Small amounts of impurities in non-crystalline substances will not exert such a noticeable effect.

The essentially completely odorless. and tasteless character of paramn wax combined with the fact that the oxidation of paraffinic-type compounds always leads to soluble oxidation products which tend to affect taste and odor makes the problem of inhibiting paraffin wax one that is both difficult and unique. The rigid requirements in the trade for paraffin wax are therefore such that an anti-oxidant for paraffin wax' must be effective in very low concentrations where itwill not cause taste or odor by itself and. at the same time it must, in that low concentration, be so effective that the formation of even extremely small amounts of odor and tasteproducing decomposition products is suppressed.

The question of whether or not any material will satisfactorily function as an-anti-oxidant in any medium is quite unpredictable, for antioxidant action is highly selective, and apparently catalytic. It is so selective, in fact, that one cannot predict with any degree of certainty that a material which is a known anti-oxidant for one substance will still perform as a satisfactory antioxidant in another medium. For example, it is well known that many phenolic materials are useful as anti-oxidants for various purposes, but a wide variety of these phenolic materials are not suitable as wax anti-oxidants. To illustrate, a number of phenolic compounds, known to possess anti-oxidant properties in other environments, have been tested in paraflin wax and deterioration,

found to be unsatisfactory as paraffin wax antioxidants. These compounds are as follows:

2,2-bis (4-hydroxyphenyl) propane;

1,1-bis (4-hydroxyphenyl) cyclohexane;

Orthodihydroxybenzene (catechol);

Metadihydroxybenzene (resorcinol);

Bis (Z-methoxyphenyl) methane;

2,5 -ditertiarybutylhydroquinone;

3-pentadecy1phenol;

Bis (2hydroxy-3,5 ditertiarybutyl 6 methylphenyl) methane;

l,1,2,2-tetrakis (2-methyl-4hydroxy-5-tertiarybutylphenyl) ethane.

' Thus, a material which may be found to exhibit anti-oxidant properties in rubber, gasoline, or fatty oils cannot on that basis be expected to exhibit anti-oxidant properties in paramn wax. Furthermore, it is difiicult to predict that such a material would be otherwise suitable for use in wax compositions. Apparently, the nature of paraffin wax has considerable bearing on the question.

It is therefore an object of our invention to provide new parafiin wax compositions having improved stability against general decomposition or oxidative deterioration.

More specifically, a further object of our invention is to provide new paraffin wax compositions of improved heat stability, such as stability against decomposition in the hot liquefied state.

A still. further object of our invention is to provide new paraffin wax compositions having stability against deterioration. due to the action of air.

Another object of our invention is to provide improved parafiin wax compositions having good color and exhibiting substantially no odor or taste, such that they may be employed in food packaging.

These and other objects are accomplished by the present invention wherein we provide improved paraffin wax compositions comprising a major amount of a refined parafiin wax and a minor amount, sufficient to inhibit oxidative of 2,2-bis-(4-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl) -propane having the following structural formula:

CH3 CH3 This compound may be produced by methods well known in the art, and it is a well known commercially available compound.

We have found that the resistance of paraffin wax to oxidation can be materially increased, and the temperature to which it may be heated without breakdown can be substantially raised by addition to the wax of relatively small amounts of the compound set forth.

This compound can be employed to advantage in paraffin wax stabilization in amounts ranging from about 0.0001 to 0.1 per cent, by weight, of the wax composition. A. preferred range is from about 0.0605 to 0.01 per cent, by weight, of the wax composition.

The following illustrative examples permit further understanding of our invention and show the advantageous results obtained in various wax compositions containing 2,2-bis-(-hydroxy-5- methylphenyl) -propane. For. the purposes of the following tests, a highly refined parafiin wax having a melting point of 122 F., as determinedby A. S. T. M. method D-8'7-42, was employed; The peroxide number, neutralization number and saponization number, referred to hereinafter, are

all obtained by means of standard well known tests, and are indicative of the degree of oxidative breakdown of the parafiin wax subjected to oxidation.

Emample I A blend was prepared employing a 122 F., A. S. T. M. melting point, paraflin wax and 0.001 per cent by weight of 2,2-bis-(4-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl) -propane. Three hundred grams of the blend were placed in a glass oxidation cell suspended in an oil bath maintained at 240 F. Preheated, dry air at a temperature substantially the same as that of the wax was passed upwardly through the molten wax at a controlled minimum rate of 1.6 cubic feet per hour. Once every 24 hours samples were withdrawn and theoxidatiofi stability of the wax was measured by analyzing for peroxides, acidity and saponifiable materialby methods well known in the art. also noted. The table below shows the results obtained along with data on the uninhibited wax control subjected to the same test conditions.

The odor was 6 dized odo'r in from' 1 to 4 days, showing thatthe additive was very effective even at the low concentration employed.

The above specific examples clearly demonstrate the efficacy, as a paraffin wax anti-oxidant, of 2,2-bis- (4-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl) -propane. The insignificant changes in peroxide, neutralization and saponification numbers, coupled with the lack of odor formation (until after 4 days) after subjection of the inhibited paraflin wax to severe oxidative environment indicate beyond any doubt that the disclosed compound is a. remarkably effective parainn wax anti-oxidant. Furthermore, it is not only effective for inhibiting oxidation of paraffin wax in the hot liquefied condition, but since the anti-oxidant is retained by the wax in the finished wax treated product, the anti-oxidant continues thereafter to perform its desired function, and aids in preventing subsequent deterioration of the paraflin wax due to adverse conditions of heat, air and the like.

The potency as a paraffin wax anti-oxidant of the compound disclosed herein permits of the employment of hot baths containing the inhibited paraffin waxes of this invention. In employing such baths, it is not necessary to use a paraffin wax already containing the anti-oxidant of this invention, but the anti-oxidant can be added in TABLE Peroxide Neutralization Saponiflcation Number Number Number moles 02 mg. KOH mg. KOH kg. wax gm. wax gm. wax Days Oxidized Control Control Control Control %i% Control 359 Control i Additive Additive Additive 0.0014 0. 001 0. 01 0. 01 0.1 0.1 0.0015 0. 001 0.01 0. 01 0.1 0.1 0.14 0. 001 0.52 0. 01 3.4 0.1 0.32 0. 001 4.58 0. 01 16.9 0.1 0. 0.0087 17.0 0. 01 43.0 0.1 0. l3 0. 359 78. 0 22. s 145. 7 51. a

It is readily seen that without the anti-oxidant suitable amounts to the molten paraflin wax in additive of our invention all three measures of the bath in order to prevent the oxidative deterioxidative deterioration, viz., the peroxide number, oration thereof. neutralization number, and saponification num- Since the anti-oxidant of this invention can ber, increased rapidly with time, whereas values be employed so efiectively in relatively small for the sample which contained the anti-oxidant amounts, it does not afiect the odor and taste of showed considerably less change even after 7 the paraifin waxes with which it is incorporated, days. The initial rise and subsequent drop in and similarly, none of the desirable physical peroxide value for the uninhibited control sample properties of the wax such as melting point and is typical of wax oxidation. tensile strength are adversely affected.

The uninhibited wax developed a strong oxi- As will be understood by those skilled in the dized odor on the second day of the test, but the art, the stabilized parafiin wax compositions of inhibited composition did not develop an oxiour invention may contain other additives and dized odor until after 4 to 7 days of the run. ingredients blended therewith to improve other characteristics, such as tensile strength, sealing Emmple H strength, etc., of the composition.

Another blend was made employing 0.01 per While our invention has been described above cent by weight of the same anti-oxidant com- 5 with reference to various specific examples and pound used for Example I added to a 122 F., embodiments, it will be understood that the in- A. S. T. M. melting point, paraffin wax. One hunvention is not limited by such examples and emdred grams of this composition was placed in a bodiments, but that resort may be had to such glass tumbler covered with a watch glass in an modifications and variations as fall within the oven maintained at 180 F. Once every 24 hours spirit of the invention and the scope of the the sample was examined for the presence of an oxidized odor. The test was terminated at the end of 60 days, at which time, the sample was still free of oxidized odors. The uninhibited wax control, in the same test, developed a strong oxiappended claims.

We claim:

1. An improved wax composition comprising a major amount of a paraffin wax and a minor amount, sufiicient to inhibit oxidative deteriora- 7 tion, 01a compound having the iollowlngv strum tural formula:

I CHa CH;

2. The compositionof claim 1, wherein the said compoundis present in an amount of from about 0.0001 to 0.1 per cent, by Weight.

3. An improved wax composition comprising a major amount of a paraffin wax and fromahout 0.0005 to 0.01 per cent, by weight, of 2,2-bis- (4-hyolroxy5-methylpheny1) -propane.

4. The method of preventing decompositionof a molten paraffin wax bath which comprises maintaining therein, in an amount. sufiicient to inhibit oxidative deterioration, a compound having the following structural formula:

CH3 z 8 51 The method of. claim, 4,v wherein the said compoundispresent in an amount of: from about 0.0001 to 0.1 per cent by'weighit'.

6. The: method. of preventing deoompositionof a molten. parafiin wax bath which comprises maintaining therein from about 00005 to- 0.01 percent, by weight; of 2,2-bis-(4-hydroxy-5- methylphenyl) -propane.

ROBERT G. C'AIEELJLI.v WILLIAM P. RIDENOU'R. JOHN'A. STEWART.

References Gited in the file, of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,017,827 Bannister I Oct. 15, 1935 ,515,906 Stevenset a1. 1 July 18, 1950 2,515,907 Stevens et a1 July 18, 1950 2,515,908 Stevens et a1 July 18, 1950 OTHER REFERENCES Phenolic anti-oxidants for parafiinic mate'- rials, Morawetz, Incl. & Eng. Chem., July 1949, pp. 1442-1447. 

1. AN IMPROVED WAX COMPOSITION COMPRISING A MAJOR AMOUNT OF A PARAFFIN WAX AND A MINOR AMOUNT, SUFFICIENT TO INHIBIT OXIDATIVE DETERIORATION, OF A COMPOUND HAVING THE FOLLOWING STRUCTURAL FORMULA: 